1. TyrannusRex

    TyrannusRex Active Member

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    Short Story Is it weird to title sections?

    Discussion in 'Genre Discussions' started by TyrannusRex, Sep 20, 2016.

    I found this here.
    The order of subdivision runs "Part (Subpart) and Section (Subsection)" between paragraph and chapter, as I found.

    1. Title (Subtitle)
    2. Chapter (Subchapter)
    3. Part (Subpart)
    4. Section (Subsection)
    5. Paragraph (Subparagraph)
    6. Clause (Subclause)
    So, I've begun writing a story.
    It started off as a short story that I wanted to expand upon. The original short story is not quite long enough to be a chapter, and not the sort of content for a prologue, so I think it's a "section". But, I'd like to keep the short story's title for that first section, as it wouldn't work for the entire story. Is it weird to title sections as one would title chapters?
    *The original short story, not including the title, is 265 words long.
     
  2. deadrats

    deadrats Contributor Contributor

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    Yes, it is weird to title sections. I'm sure someone will come along with an author who has done it. Hell, I've seen a short story in the New Yorker that did this. Maybe not the same breakdown as you have, but it has and can be done. Will it be harder to pull off? Yes. Will it be harder to sell? Yes. Do you really want to make something that is extremely difficult more difficult? I would see if you don't get more inspiration to go back to those 265 words and keep it going. That's nothing. See where it takes you. Don't cut good writing off at the knees.
     
  3. Elven Candy

    Elven Candy Pay no attention to the foot in my mouth Contributor

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    I agree it would be a little weird. That's not to say I wouldn't buy a book that did it; I'd just think the author was a little odd. I have read books with one-page chapters, so if you like it that much, you can probably make it its own chapter, though you should probably see if you could expand on it at least a little
     
  4. Tenderiser

    Tenderiser Not a man or BayView

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    In your link, the OP is asking about scenes (but doesn't know the word for them). Scenes are normal within chapters, but they aren't usually marked other than by a few line breaks.

    If every 250-ish words was labelled in some way... yeah, that'd be distracting.
     
  5. TyrannusRex

    TyrannusRex Active Member

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    Alright, I appreciate it. :agreed:
    I've got two little segments completed, which I think I can lump into a good first chapter. There's a little flashback/exposition that I'll give it's own little block/paragraph/scene to, but that's near the end. In many books I've read the first chapter is short and easy to get into, the second chapter is quite a bit longer, and that's probably what I'll do.
     
  6. Elven Candy

    Elven Candy Pay no attention to the foot in my mouth Contributor

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    Most books I read have shorter first chapters, so I say go for it! I also remembered something today that may or may not help you: I've read several books that were broken into parts (Part 1, includes chapters 1-6; Part 2, includes chapters 7-10, etc) with each part being named. Obviously you'd need a book that's a good candidate for this, but if your book is, I thought you might find this interesting if you don't already know it.
     

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